Writing, psychiatry and parenting

The copy edit

I was very excited yesterday when another heavy, fat brown parcel arrived at my door from Hachette – the latest version of my manuscript with copy editing notes. I immediately opened it to find my manuscript, notes from the editors, and a guide to the copyediting symbols to help me decipher the notes!

Unlike the structural edit, which looked at big picture issues around my plot and characters, the copy edit is a detailed look at the finer points: sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, points of view, and a closer look at the text in terms of consistency.

While it looked incredibly daunting last night when I began to flick through the wad of pages, I can see that many of the hundreds of pencil marks relate to really simple things that I am happy to change. There are a few details to add and more to check, but overall, it’s not a rewrite on the same way as a structural edit and I ho pe to tackle this page by page, paragraph by paragraph.

It’s another stage in the development of a novel, a stage that I am privileged to be at. With each step along the way, I can see the book evolving into the version that will be on the shelves (or virtual shelves for the e-book!) in March 2013.

Thanks for your comment but don’t despair! I remember reading lots of posts about the publishing process long before I found an agent or publisher, actually, long before even finishing the book! I had to remind myself to switch off the internet and write it! What’s your book about? You may have read here that my book reached the publishers via a manuscript development competition, so I’d strongly encourage you to enter those if you haven’t already.
Just don’t give up, and best of luck with it…